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Help fellow foodies!

My mother has moved to Cedar Rapids, IA, so now when we go to visit her, I have no idea where to take her out to dinner.

Any recommendations?

I'm looking for both high-class joints and hole-in-the-wall wonders (in fact, I'd prefer that latter).

Thanks for your help.

Doug

I'm in Iowa City until June, so I can sorta answer your query. Two things: 1) I don't eat much fast or fried food, so I can't help with the dives; 2) take this as a sign, but I've never gotten up to Cedar Rapids yet, nor has anyone I've met here ever recommended a place in CR. Lately, I've been asking people about it and they say not to bother...

Two recommendations:

1) Lincoln Cafe, about 10 miles south and east of CR in a charming hamlet of a town called Mount Vernon, is probably the best restaurant in Iowa--far as I can tell. The restaurant is exceedingly unpretentious and casual, but warm and food focused. Like most of the higher quality restaurants in the area, there's a printed menu with the standard array of appetizers, salads, and sandwichws, and there's a chalkboard menu with the specials--the printed menu is for college students; the chalkboard is for the foodies (relatively speaking). The guy who runs this place seems on a vision quest to produce the most novel New American dishes he can--he changes the specials weekly--and while he overindulges with the ingredients and the concepts sometimes, man, can he cook. Example: an exquisite foie gras and scallops dish I had months ago; a free-range chicken stuffed with pig jowls (guanciale) last month. Two caveats: 1) the specials are running upwards of $30 these days (overpriced by $5, I think) and 2) The requisite salad/soup is entirely worthless. Desserts are better than average.

Go during the week or nearer to closing; otherwise, expect a significant wait.

117 First Street West
Mt. Vernon, IA 52314
319-895-4041

2) The Motley Cow Cafe, at the north end of downtown Iowa City, is just a great, great place to eat. Same deal as Lincoln: about three special entrees that change weekly, etc. The Cow doesn't hit the same highs as Lincoln, but it's much more consistent; in fact, it's one of the few places I've been where the food is always good. Easiest comparisons I can make are to stripped-down, neighborhood versions of North Pond or the late Harvest on Huron--ingredient-focused, seasonally inclined American cooking served humbly and with pride. Very good seafood here: I've had excellent trout, mahi mahi, and skate wing dishes in the past. Also good for root vegetables, which tend to comprise the owner's side dishes and soups. Desserts are okay; service can be friendly but laissez faire.

I've never had a problem walking right in, even on the weekends.

The Motley Cow Café,
327 E. Market St., Iowa City, 52245.
(319) 688-9177

If you discover anything, post back here.

went to school in Mt Vernon, have not been back for a LLLLOOOONNNNGGG time, I read about this place and am hoping to visit in the next month. will post experience.

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I did absolutely nothing and it was everything I thought it could be.

While in school and living in Iowa City for 4 years, I think back and find it strange that we never once made the 20 minute trip to the "Crapids" for a meal. We often ventured further to other small towns such as West Liberty for something different, but Cedar Rapids was never much of a destination. I am sure times have changed and there are places to head out to.

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Butter

The Lincoln Restaurant is indeed very good. We went a few weeks ago, and had a great meal, one of the best I've had in Iowa. The restaurant does get busy, yes, but they just opened a wine bar 2 doors down, and that seems to function as a kind of very pleasant, drinking-required waiting room. And if you bring wine-bar bottles over to dinner, they waive the (extremely reasonable) $5 corkage fee.

The place seems to work like Lula Cafe-- a cheapo standards menu (sandwiches, hamburgers, etc), plus high-end chalkboard specials. The high end specials are overpriced, as chezbrad said, and the night I went there were only 3 of them, but the hamburgers are underpriced, so. I had a fancied-up pork chop, very tasty, that ran north of $30; however, my fiance had an appetizer-as-entre of a bucket of mussels, which was overfilled, and $11. And these mussels were, somewhat absurdly, among the best mussels I've ever had. It made no sense, really-- Mt Vernon, Iowa? But there they were. We also had a mountain of french fries-- why not?-- cut in-house, which were excellent, up there with Sweets & Savories'.

Which leads me to my actual Cedar Rapids recommendation: The Flying Wienie. We were tipped off by the Lincoln Cafe waitress; we'd praised her french fries, and she said, "I know, they're great, almost as good as The Flying Wienie's." The Flying Wienie is a converted gas station, decorated with airplane memorabilia/crap, painted Hot Douggy red & yellow. It has a prop plane on the roof. It's run by an ex-Chicagoan, and he serves respectable-to-excellent Chicago-style hot dogs. His fries are, indeed, outstanding. He makes barbecue, too, but eh on that front.

Also in Cedar Rapids is a very good Czech bakery, in Czech village, Sykora Bakery. It is 100+ years old, and the last time I was there, it was closed for repairs, so call ahead.

Oh, yes, Motley Cow is good too, probably the best upscale Iowa City food I've had. And if you're down that way, there is also a better-than-you'd-have-reason-to-expect Japanese restaurant, in a mini-mall: Sushi Popo. The owner, Dick, really makes an effort. Fiance and I have grown very fond of it.

You can read more about the Lincoln Cafe at their unfortunately-named website: http://www.foodisimportant.com

Flying Wienie
103 8th Ave SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 861-3036

Sykora Bakery
73 16th Ave SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 364-5271
http://www.sykorabakery.com

Sushi Popo
725 Mormon Trek Blvd
Iowa City, IA 52246
(319) 338-7676

My husband and I took our daughter to visit Coe College in Cedar Rapids a few days ago. I was disappointed to see how few places in CR the forum noted. We weren’t there long enough to try the recommendation for Lincoln Café in Mount Vernon. I wanted to add what we learned, although it isn’t much.

I cannot recommend the Butterfly Café for lunch. The “old-fashioned kielbasa soup” sounded good and had nice thin rounds of sausage, tomato, and macaroni, but was way, way too salty. My BLT was OK--decent bacon, bad white bread toast, shredded iceberg lettuce (ugh), and my husband’s breaded pork tenderloin was pretty good, although again too salty for my taste. Despite my suggestion/warning to my daughter to “order Iowa,” she had a turkey and cheese “panini” that was nearly inedible.

We left my daughter off for a night in the dorm and college cafeteria fare and tried to see a little of the town and find a good meal. CR has a large Czech and Slovak population and a small tourist area called Czech Village that includes a Czech and Slovak museum and library that we didn’t get to during their open hours. We did try a Czech restaurant in the area called Zindrick's Czech Restaurant, which is worth a visit. It’s a cute place. Dvorak and Smetana music plays. There are real cloth napkins, always a plus in my book, and Czech beer on tap. We each had a Pilsner Urquell. We came for the Czech dishes, of course, but found that since it was St. Patrick’s Day, everyone else in the place seemed to be having the corned beef and cabbage special! The food we ordered was mixed. Good: The sweet and sour red cabbage was the best I’ve had in a restaurant, with good-sized tasty pieces of bacon and plump raisins. My husband liked his stuffed cabbage and sauerkraut, but I didn’t taste them (and he’s such a cabbage lover he’d always clean his plate of them). Not so good: The entrees were obviously not prepared to order because they came out so fast. My half roast duck was dry and too chewy, and the sauce was, again, too salty. Their bread dumplings were incredibly bland and covered with a different, also rather salty, gravy. We split an order of palacinka for dessert, and they were just OK (and I love all pancakes of all kinds). The filling seemed to be apricot preserves with nice big chunks of fruit but a way too sweet surrounding jam.

If our daughter ends up going to Coe, we’ll be sure to have more to report. I can recommend without reservation the CR Museum of Art, which has a wonderful Grant Wood collection (as does the college library); Wood lived and worked there. The word from one of the professors she spoke with was to try a coffee house just across the street from campus called Brewed Awakenings, but we had to get going on our drive home. We also received a recommendation for a Greek restaurant called Vernon Inn. If anyone else has any places to recommend, I’d love to hear them.

EvA

Butterfly Café
1616 1st Ave NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 362-3620

Zindrick’s Czech Restaurant
86 16th Ave SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 365-5257

Cedar Rapids Museum of Art
410 Third Avenue SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
(319) 366-7503

I'm a 38 year old CR native. This alone explains my membership on a Chicago-centric food forum!

There is very little to recommend in Cedar Rapids. A few off the top of my head:

Zindricks - Czech food (already mentioned). Hit or miss. Decent but pricey.
Flying Wienie - decent, NOT as good as Chitown but....good Italian beef. Good enough dogs.
Taste of India - one visit last week. Excellent. Clean and quite nice looking. Huge amount of food. Good prices. Everything is homemade
Little Bohemia - BEST tenderloin I've ever had, hands down, and I've had a lot.
Biaggi's - Decent small chain (Chicago based I believe), good Italian mid-scale. Some excellent dishes.
El Super Burrito - I have not tried this place but it is family run and everything is homemade. Gets great reviews. Also has Mexican pastries.
Maid-Rite (Marion) - diner cafe, loose meat sandwiches. One of the older ones in Iowa. Just go there for the sandwiches, the pie is also pretty good.
Zoey's Pizza (Marion) - Absolutely the best pizza (thin crust) I've had (including big cities) . It's not always perfect but when it is it's fantastic. Never bad.

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Abouna

Abouna, Thanks for the suggestions. It's looking likely our daughter will be going to Coe, so I am very happy to have an LTHer's recommendations.
EvA

No problem, just let me know if you have any further questions.

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Abouna

Any updates for Cedar Rapids? I have a two day business trip there at the end of next week. A good pork tenderloin sandwich would be great.

Thanks

Unfortunately the best tenderloin joint in town was flooded last year and did not reopen.

If you have time for a 25 minute drive there is a real homestyle Mexican place in Iowa City. We've gone twice now, VERY authentic. The owners, Carmen & Carlos are not just friendly but geniune. Both visits have had Carmen cooking for us off the menu family style. The quesadilla is fantastic! Warning though, this is home cooked type food, the meat is not ultra tender, etc. The refried beans, made from scratch, have good old lard and a whisper of some kind of pork sausage in them. We also liked the beef tacos very much.


La Reyna
1937 Keokuk Street
Iowa City, IA 52240
(319) 358-8182


Also, see some of my recommendations above.

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Abouna

Just north of Cedar Rapids is Joensy's in Center Point, they will put some topping on the tenderloin if you want:



The best tenderloin you may find anywhere is in Oxford, just 13 miles west of Iowa City, at the Augusta:

The apparent difference in quality between the two shown is amazing. I'll try to get to Oxford if my schedule permits.

Friday night we enjoyed a "Zoey" pizza at its namesake restaurant, and it is outstanding. Medium thin crust (they call it NY style) with lots of excellent toppings and a generous hand with the cheese. The cheesy garlic bread we had as an app should have clued us to the cheese-centric style at Zoey's Pizzeria. We were happy with the food and beer choices, the comfortable neighborhood vibe in Marion, Iowa's little 19th-century downtown, and the prices so reasonable by Chicago standards. They also make a "Chicago-style" pizza, which we didn't try (why would we?), but I bet it's pretty good however loosely related to a real Chicago pie. Definitely a return visit is in our future when taking/picking up our daughter.

Zoey's Pizzeria
690 10th Street
Marion, Iowa 52302
319-377-2840
http://www.zoeyspizza.com/

The Amana Colonies are only 17 miles away from Cedar Rapids....

The Flying Wienie now has a near legendary status in Cedar Rapids. During the 2008 flood, that entire area of town was completely swamped under several feet of water, and most of the area so badly damaged that several hundred homes and businesses are being bought out and bulldozed. For some reason no one can explain, the Flying Wienie was surrounded on all sides by flood water, but wasn't damaged itself, and it doesn't sit on anything resembling higher ground. God, apparently, loves a good hot dog.

The Czech Village area, though, got hammered by the flood. Most of the businesses and restaurants are just now reopening. Not sure if the bakery has reopened yet, but my understanding was it in intends to.

Good info, but that pork tenderloin's not kosher for you, is it, rabbi?

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"I would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Kosher? That pork tenderloin isn't a kosher thing. I follow Kliban's dictum - "Never eat anything bigger than your head."

Nobody asked for any update from Iowa in a while, so here it goes:

Two years after the flood, and a few months after a comedy movie, Warren Wood (Sykora Bakery) and Al Zindrick have both been interviewed by the national/international press about the affects of the flood and the rebuilding.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8944950.stm


http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/20/us/20czechs.html

Zindrick's is now split in two businesses after the flood. I heard the guy had a divorce, and sold his sister half the restaurant before renovating and reopening as the Red Frog and Blue Toad. Al is a big guy who was walking around the Blue Toad when I was eating. The Cajun Loin is just a regular tenderloin with a ton of seasonings poured on top and some Red Onion Mayo. I would get another Czech entree if I can make it back.

Al's Blue Toad in Cedar Rapids by Tyrgyzistan, on Flickr

Cajun Breaded Pork Loin from Al's Blue Toad in Cedar Rapids by Tyrgyzistan, on Flickr

Sykora's is still there, but the shelves all seemed half empty when I came in.

Flying Wienie is still cutting french fries to order, and the whole place smells like grease.

Little Bohemia just recently reopened, but doesn't have their deep fryer running just yet. They do have chicken and dumplings, goulash, and a Made Right sandwich to serve.

Westside Maid Rite rebuilt, and served the usual Maid Rite sandwiches along with goulash, and hand breaded tenderloins. This is the first time I have found hand breaded tenderloins at any Maid Rite, whether at a heirloom family owned or independent spinoff of the franchise.

Pork Loin Sandwich from Westside Maid Rite in Cedar Rapids by Tyrgyzistan, on Flickr


Westside Maid Rite in Cedar Rapids by Tyrgyzistan, on Flickr

Westside Maid Rite
621 1st Ave SW, Cedar Rapids
(319) 364-4415

Al's Blue Toad
86 16th Avenue Southwest Cedar Rapids
(319) 265-8623
http://www.bluetoadcr.com/

Red Frog
88 16th Avenue Southwest
Cedar Rapids,
(319) 369-3940
http://www.redfrogcr.com/index.htm

Another trip to Iowa, taking our second child to college in that fair state. (For those keeping count, one is at Coe and now one is at Grinnell.) The three of us had a fantastic dinner at the Augusta Restaurant on Friday night. The place is a bit off the beaten path but is not hard to get to from I-80, just a few miles northwest of Iowa City. Oxford is small and the center of town appears somewhat run-down, as shown in Tyrgyzistan's photo, but the corner restaurant itself is charming, with tin ceiling, brick walls, mismatched chairs, and local artists' work displayed. The chef/owner, Ben Halperin, a native Chicagoan who lived in New Orleans until Katrina, discovered Iowa when he and his wife honeymooned there. They decided to open the Augusta and cook local products with a New Orleans sensibility. The result is some of the best versions of hearty local specialties you are likely to have.

The pictured award-winning pork tenderloin was delicious--juicy on the inside and wonderfully crunchy on the outside. Chef Halperin has a very light hand with seasoning and salt, and the tenderloin breading was subtle enough for the excellent Iowa pork to really shine through. And that bun? Baked in-house and able to stand up to the gigantic tenderloin. Our new college freshman, now an Iowan, was wowed by his first pork tenderloin sandwich, and I fear he has been spoiled for lesser examples. We also had wild local mushrooms expertly fried in the same batter, although here I would have like a bit more salt and seasoning. The 'shrooms themselves were terrific. Cabbagehead had a cup of dark and spicy gumbo that puts the stuff we occasionally get at Evanston's Dixie Kitchen to shame. He also had the roast beef dinner, which might have been brisket and which was tender and well-flavored, served with a wedge of cheese grits that was polenta like--a bit crisp on the outside, deliciously creamy and lightly cheesy on the inside. The Augusta has also won a state-wide prize for its hamburger, so I tried it. Perfectly cooked medium rare, with real beef taste, and served on the same house-baked bun as comes with the pork tenderloin. I had mine topped with blue cheese, served with lovely, crispy homemade sweet potato chips, plus a small salad of locally grown greens. We all had to let our belts out, but we split an order of chocolate beignets that were beautifully fried and huge. As you can see, it's a mixed menu, but everything we had was outstanding.

I wish the Augusta were closer to home. If you are headed west through Iowa on I-80, or are going to Iowa City or Cedar Rapids, I highly recommend it!

Augusta Restaurant
101 South Augusta Avenue
Oxford, IA 52322
(319) 828-2252
http://www.augustarestaurant.net/index.shtml

Nice report, thanks for the menu link, and address for Augusta.

I am heading to the QC in a couple weeks, this won't be a big detour.

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I got a real good mind.

Before Cotton was King: http://www.grubseeker.blogspot.com

Thanks, Jim. Note that Oxford is a good hour plus west of the Quad Cities. But I do think it's worth the trip....

We spent last weekend in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area, visiting our daughter for Family Weekend at Coe. We skipped the football and silent auction and concentrated on bookstores, restaurants, and the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. We had two breakfasts out in CR, which has a local specialty called a shipwreck. This is a piled-up skillet breakfast with scrambled eggs, potatoes, meat, veggies, cheese, almost anything. Our first morning, at Breakfast House, was nothing special. Eggs, coffee, breakfast meats were all average or below. But our second morning was a distinct improvement. My recommendation for a CR breakfast is Riley’s Café. Ingredients across the board were higher quality. My ham on the bone was just that and very tasty. The coffee was quite drinkable. The hash browns were crisp.

Two dinners out: The first evening we took our daughter and her advisor out for a “fancy” dinner in downtown CR. Zins calls itself a tapas restaurant but is really a small plates place—there’s nothing Spanish about it. Atmosphere is pleasant in an old office building, and our server was enthusiastic and competent. Food would be nothing to write home (or LTHForum) about in Chicago. Their best dishes were a very good cone of frites, served with a bland aioli missing its garlic, and a braised beef short rib that was tender and savory. The desserts (made by a separate chef, our server enthused to us) were dull and heavy on coconut (not my favorite). Prices for wine by the glass and bottle were quite reasonable by Chicago standards, but I can’t judge how good the choices are. We drank a nice Oregon pinot gris.

For our next dinner out, we returned to the Augusta Restaurant (see earlier this thread). A second visit did not disappoint. I really wish this place were closer to home! Chef Halperin was trying out his Thanksgiving dishes, so Cabbagehead gave his Turducken a try. I only got a bite of perfectly juicy white turkey meat, but he certainly enjoyed the creation, which was served as a large slice of meats within meats. I tried shrimp in wine sauce, served with warm house-made herb bread. It was a generous portion, and the shrimp were nicely cooked. The creamy grits cake is a wonder. I could eat one of those any day. Daughter had the Big Easy burger, which she, silly girl, found “too beefy.” Not a complaint we had later eating her leftovers. The chocolate beignets were less gargantuan than last time, but were if anything more tasty. We split an order and were very satisfied. Local Iowa beers on tap from Millstream (Amana) and the wonderfully named Toppling Goliath (Decorah) were the perfect accompaniments. Do visit this place if you are in the area.

Breakfast House
820 6th Street SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 261-2233
http://thebreakfasthouse.com

Riley’s Café
836 1st Ave NE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52402
(319) 364-4779
http://rileyscafeandcatering.com
(Note: They are moving a few blocks northeast soon.)

Zins Restaurant
227 2nd Avenue SE
Cedar Rapids, IA 52401
(319) 363-9467
http://www.zinsrestaurant.com

Augusta Restaurant
101 S. Augusta Avenue
Oxford, IA 52322
(319) 828-2252
http://www.augustarestaurant.net

The local newspaper tells me that Little Bo's (Little Bohemia) is back to serving its full menu of goulash, made-tights and tenderloins. It had been closed for nearly two years previously. The local college made a print of a Marvin Cone painting of the tavern to raise money for fllood relief a couple years back as well:
Little Bohemia Bar
1317 Third St. SE,
Cedar Rapids
(319) 366-6262.
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Little-Bohemia/182375041790673?sk=wall

It looks like Sykora Bakery has reopened but closed again for health code violations, I took some pics of the exterior in the Czech Village on my last visit:


My photos of the baked goodies just didn't turn out that day.

Sykora Bakery
73 Sixteenth Avenue. S.W.
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52404
(319) 364-5271

Heading out to pick up our son, we made sure once again to stop for dinner at the Augusta Restaurant. We had another great meal and had the added pleasure of talking a bit with the warm and friendly owners, Chef Ben Halperin and his wife Jeri. It turns out that Ben grew up in our neighborhood, so we chatted about beloved restaurants of his childhood, many long gone and lamented and others of more recent demise, such as HaShalom. Chef Ben’s New Orleans-meets-Iowa food continues to hit the spot with us. He makes a terrific boneless (yes), buttermilk-brined, deep-fried chicken that is crunchy, juicy, and delicious. I really appreciate that it is not over-salted as I find deep-fried chicken often is. The deep brown gumbo is satisfyingly spicy. Cabbagehead’s dish of red beans with rice and andouille topped with a nice piece of grilled chicken was excellent.

After hearing how Chef Ben cures his own corned beef and puts up his own sauerkraut, I urged him to come back to Chicago and open a Jewish deli. I hope I planted a seed that will grow. But for now, if you are anywhere near Iowa City, drive the extra miles to Oxford and try the Augusta Restaurant’s food.

Augusta Restaurant
101 S. Augusta Avenue
Oxford, IA 5322
(319) 828-2252
http://www.augustarestaurant.net

Sykora Bakery has reopened and introduced a new item, the Bohemian Burger served on a poppy seed bun.

This is my last report about Cedar Rapids since my daughter graduated from Coe College on Mother’s Day. I do want to recommend her choice for graduation eve dining, Sushi House. She was far from the only Coe grad who made the same suggestion because the place was swarming with Coe students and their families.

As is probably true many places, Sushi House has to be many things Asian to many people, so in addition to sushi, it serves cooked Japanese food and Chinese dishes as well. I can only comment on the nigiri and maki plus a few appetizers. Cabbagehead had his favorite katsudon, which he happily ate, but I didn’t taste it. The miso soup was actually quite excellent. Aga dashi tofu was good, as were the gyoza stuffed with pork. The happy graduate and I split the “Sushi House for 2,” a generous platter of rolls and nigiri that was quite respectable.

And because you can never drive from Chicago to Iowa often enough, we drove back to the Hawkeye state to retrieve our son from Grinnell College this past weekend. We stopped for Sunday brunch in Oxford, Iowa, at the Augusta Restaurant and enjoyed Chef Ben’s take on biscuits and sausage gravy and crab cake eggs benedict. Once again we found the extra few miles off the highway very well worth it, as the food was delicious and served in Iowa over-sized portions. My crab cake was especially good with a real taste of the sea in the landlocked Midwest. We look forward to two more years of college comings and goings that will include stops at the Augusta.

Sushi House
2665 Edgewood Pkwy SW
Cedar Rapids, IA 52404
(319) 396-1990
http://www.sushihouse-cr.com/

Augusta Restaurant
101 S. Augusta Avenue
Oxford, IA 5322
(319) 828-2252
http://www.augustarestaurant.net

The Augusta has expanded their catering operations and own another building in Oxford to run their business from.

I still want to make it to the New Bohemia City Market one of these days
http://www.newbocitymarket.com/

My daughter thought the market was great, but we never made it there in our limited trips to the area.